for us amongst EIS members who are not in FE and I hope to be able to tap into that feeling of support. The current blurring of the boundaries between schools and colleges with the Skills for Work initiative and many school/college partnerships have brought teachers in schools into much closer contact with lecturers in colleges. Although both sectors have their problems, greater understanding is to be welcomed. In addition colleges deliver a lot of Higher Education, whether as Higher National Courses or as part of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), and our links with the University Lecturers Association (ULA) are very important. Is there any particular aspiration you have for FE members?
Anyone in FE who has spoken to me since I have become President has always brought up the topic of national bargaining and their hope that in my position I can do something concrete to secure a move away from plant bargaining. The arguments are well rehearsed.
We know it is just plain daft to spend so much time every year, college by college, negotiating wage increases this way. As far as I know we are the only publicly funded national service which does not have nationally negotiated rates of pay. There is some concern that we are now so far away from a national negotiating platform that it might be a waste of time and energy to pursue such a course, particularly when the college principals seem so set against it. However, I am totally committed to the ideal of a unified Scottish education system and the anomaly of FE pay structures has to be addressed. There will be no quick fix
but we have to make every effort to take the initiative on this.
Are all the members in FE behind this initiative?
I am concerned that members in FE are not participating fully in the national committees of the EIS. FELA Executive does not have its full complement. The FE seats on Council are not fully taken up. I would suggest that the reason for this is that hard pressed Branch Officials have neither the time nor the energy to participate nationally when there is so much fire fighting to do at college level.
I would like to work closely with FELA Executive to try to make progress on national matters but I also have to know what the opinions of ordinary FELA members are. I would like to know that I am speaking for them. I have no hidden agenda and I have no wish to bypass the democratic and constitutional structures that we have in the EIS but I would like to think that I have the backing of FELA members in trying to advance justice and equity for FE both with the Scottish Government and our employers.
from schools and our structures and governance are quite different but it is also a danger for nurseries where Local Authorities are cutting the numbers of nursery teachers; it is a danger for teachers in promoted posts, especially head teachers, who can not only be isolated from their staff but be encouraged to feel so by some of the current theories of leadership; it is a danger for specialist teachers and itinerant teachers; it is a danger for supply teachers; it is a danger for our university members. The EIS has a job to do in representing all teachers.
“I am totally committed to the ideal of a unified Scottish education system and the anomaly of FE pay structures has to be addressed.� Kirsty Devaney
What are your other priorities for this year?
I think one of the most important areas of work for the Institute is recruitment and inclusion. This sounds a little odd when we are the largest teaching union in Scotland with over 59,000 members but there can be a tendency in education to be very inward looking and have concern only for the part that you are in. It is, as I’ve said, a danger for FE where we are mostly physically separated
the bigger picture - email us with your views sej@eis.org.uk
Educational Institute of Scotland 13